A DIY Lifestyle Blog

DIY Shutters to Jewelry Boxes

My name is Tess Whitney. Lily is a great friend of mine and I love this blog, so when I decided to convert some old shutters into jewelry boxes, I thought I would share. They are a great way to add character to a room and display your favorite jewelry or photos. Enjoy!!

Materials:

one or two old shutters (don’t worry if they are beat-up–it will add to the retro style of the finished product)

Scissors

Stapler

marker

fabric of your choice (I cut up a striped yellow sheet so that it looked like sunshine peaking through when the shutters are closed)

glue gun

super glue (optional)

sand paper (optional)

roll of cork with adhesive backing (you can get one at your local craft store) it may seem strange to buy a roll instead of a cork board, but it needs to be thin enough to fit in the shutter and is easier to cut to the size that you will need. Mine looks like this:

Directions:

1. If you want your shutters to have a really old/worn look, you can start by taking the sandpaper to the edges of the shutter and other areas of your choice to remove a bit of the paint and scuff them up a bit.

2. Next, make sure your shutters are clean. Because they are being recycled, they probably accumulated some dust and dirt. I just stuck mine in the shower and scrubbed them with an old cleaning brush.

3. Open the shutter as if it is open and fanning out from a window. On the inner portion of the two panels of the shutter, measure the length and width of the rectangle that the slats are in and subtract an eighth of an inch from the length and width. Here’s an example; the arrows indicate what portion of the shutter you should measure:

4. Now mark the dimensions you just took (don’t forget to subtract an eighth of an inch, you’ll need the extra space to allow for the fabric) on the roll of cork board and cut accordingly.

5. Cut a rectangle with the same measurements from your piece of cardboard and attach it to the adhesive side of the section of cork you just cut. Its okay if you have to cut two pieces of cardboard to accommodate the length; however, if you need to do this, use your glue gun to reinforce the space where the two sections of cardboard meet on the back of the cork board. You should now have a rectangle of cork-covered cardboard (or two, depending on how many shutters you have decided to convert) that looks like this:

6. Cut a piece of fabric that is at least two inches longer on each side than the rectangle of cork and cardboard that you have. Don’t worry about imperfections on the edges of the fabric, they won’t be visible because they will be tucked under the side of the cork. However, if you have striped fabric, make sure you cut along the stripes, otherwise your finished product will seem off-center.

8. If the fabric is super wrinkled, iron the worst of the wrinkles out. Either way, I found that an ironing board is a great surface for the next couple of steps because you can adjust the height. You might want to place something in between yourself and the ironing board when you star using glue though; hot glue on an ironing board can ruin clothes later when it melts because of heat from the iron.

8. If you do have a striped fabric or a pattern that needs to be centered, place your fabric face up on a flat surface and the rectangle of cork on top of it, making sure to center it the way you would like to have the fabric appear in you jewelry box. Now take a marker and make small dots on the outside corner of the board on the fabric to give yourself a reference point when you begin gluing the fabric to the board. This step is not necessary if you are not concerned about the alignment of your fabric.

9. Now lay the fabric face down and put the cork board face down on top of it. Align the corners of the board within the marks you made on the fabric (that is, if you made them). Next, fold the pieces of fabric on opposite ends of the board over and attach them to the upturned cardboard side. I used staples for this first part because I wanted to pull the fabric tight, but I would suggest glue because the staples show on the other side of the board.

10. Don’t give up yet! You’re almost there!! Cut of the fabric that over laps on the corners to keep the board thin enough to fit into your shutters.

11. Heat up your glue gun and attach the rest of the fabric to the other sides of the board, pulling the fabric firmly over the back of the board.

12. On the other side, the board should look like this:

13. Now its time to attach the cork board to the shutter. Make sure that the slats are pushed flat (you shouldn’t be able to see through any gaps). I found that a glue gun works best, but if you’re not too handy with one, I would use super glue because its easy to get annoying drops and strings of hot glue everywhere and you have to work quickly with a glue gun.

14. Now carefully place the cork board within the area of the rectangle that you measured earlier. Now go back and add glue to any places that may need it.

15. Use push pins to create hooks to hang your jewelry from. Your new shutters can also double as a way to display your favorite pictures; I decided to include both. You can either mount these on a wall or place them on top of your dresser. Be careful hanging them on the wall though, you will need to remove the hinges on the back of the shutters. The shutters are also pretty heavy, so make sure you find a beam in the wall to nail them into for enough support. Here are a few pictures of my finished shutters: